Many medical diagnostic and surgical procedures involving a patient include administration of a medication within the patient in conjunction with such procedures. In certain medical diagnostic and/or surgical procedures, the medication is typically administered to the patient in one of two ways. The first is via systematic intravenous (IV) injection of the medication using an IV bag and pump. The second is via intravascular delivery of a bolus of the medication through a port defined in a catheter inserted generally within an anatomical structure of a patient.
However, these typical medication administration techniques used in conjunction with certain medical diagnostic and/or surgical procedures have disadvantages. As for IV administration, additional equipment, such as a pump, IV bag, etc., is usually required in addition to that needed for the diagnostic and/or surgical procedure. Furthermore, IV administration usually will necessitate acquisition of a separate access point on the patient, in addition to any access point needed for the diagnostic and/or surgical procedure. The use of a separate access point for IV administration can result in longer administration duration, relative to intravascular administration, given the generally greater distance that the medication needs to pass from the separate access point to the procedure's region of interest. This longer administration duration can cause varying levels of discomfort for patients.
As for intravascular administration, although the administration duration can be shorter, and thus result in less discomfort for the patient, accurate placement of the catheter port is key. In other words, accurate placement of the catheter itself generally may not be sufficient since the port is the administration point. In addition, given that the catheter must be at or near the region of interest to correctly administer the medication, the presence of the catheter in this region can interfere with the relevant procedure (e.g., the use of other devices). This can especially be the case where the medication requires precise administration to the region of interest (e.g., the medication has a short half-life, the medication must not flow to other regions, etc.) and/or where the procedure requires precise measurements which can be obstructed by the catheter's presence.